WASHINGTON — Three days after getting married and a day after being baptized, Mario Salmeron, 39, of Edgewater, was struck and killed by a pickup truck as he did roadside work.
Salmeron, the father of seven, was a landscaper and was tending the Maryland Fire and Rescue Memorial in Annapolis on Dec. 14 when the truck left the road and ended his life.
“It’s been a difficult time for all of us,” says Richard Sweeney, a landscape architect and co-worker of Salmeron at Walnut Hill Landscape in Annapolis.
“I think it’s an incredibly tragic event to have taken place, especially this time of year.”
For his family, the tragedy follows moments of great joy.
Salmeron had just married his longtime partner Carolina Granados and, then, at Sunday mass on Dec. 13, was baptized. He was killed on the job the following day.
The family has set up a GoFundMe Page, hoping to raise enough money to send the family to the funeral and start a college fund for Salmeron’s two youngest daughters, who are 8 and 10 years old.
As of Sunday afternoon, more than $20,900 had been raised to cover the expenses.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Walnut Hill is not paying to have his remains sent to El Salvador for burial.
